As Dan dashed off to find Lucy, he had a lot of questions in his mind. First of all, he was shocked by the fact that Lucy, whom he had been with for years and whom he saw as a leader, was a SorCyber. He had spent more than a lifetime with Lucy, but he had never heard her talk about her past. The people in Araf even invented a game for themselves where they tried to guess what Lucy might have been like before here.

According to the accounts of those who fell recently, being a SorCyber was not that rare anymore. During the time Dan lived above, SorCybers were very scarce. In fact, the majority of people living in small cities had never seen a SorCyber. Especially considering how long Lucy had been there, which he didn't know, but he could only guess. At that time, Dan thought, there must have been a very, very little amount of SorCybers. This gave Dan a piece of very important information about Lucy's identity. A guess at least.

While these thoughts were swirling around in his mind, he was swirling around the city asking if anyone had seen Lucy. Finally, one of the pair that was playing backgammon in front of a house gave useful information. He had supposedly seen the direction Lucy was walking some time ago. With this better-than-nothing information, Dan moved on.

Actually, there was no need for him to rush, no one in Araf was in a hurry. It had been several years since the last time someone had run in a panic in the city. Realizing this, Dan suddenly broke out of his panic and began to take calmer steps. He wasn't supposed to draw attention to himself. After all, this was not a very safe place. He was about to return to the stormy thoughts in his mind when Lucy's red hair came into his field of vision and he called out. “Hey, Lucy!”

Lucy had curly red hair, a freckled but tired-looking face, and green eyes. She turned around and fixed her green eyes on Dan. “Hey Dan.” she called casually. “I guess you found someone. Congratulations! I heard the news as well. So how is she?"

Dan wasn't at all surprised to hear that Lucy had already heard the news. Araf was indeed a small place, a small place full of big mouths. “We've got her condition under control, but we haven't woken her up yet. Flo thinks it would be helpful if you were there too.” Dan tried to talk without going into detail as much as possible, he was worried about someone overhearing.

Lucy spoke without putting much thought into why she had to be there. "Sure, I can come. After all, you found her where I wanted you to go, right? I also wonder what she might say when she wakes up.”

Remembering that Fallen One and Lucy had fallen into the same place, Dan wondered if it had anything to do with the fact that they were both SorCybers. In fact, the guy who brought chaos to the city a few years ago had fallen in there, too. What kind of a city was above that place? It seemed like everyone that came from there was somehow important. “Let's hope that she doesn't turn out like the last person we rescued.” Dan muttered.

Lucy consoled Dan with a laugh when she remembered about the past. “Yeah, that guy Hadrian really messed up the city. Of course, Fallen One can be someone like that, you know what kind of a place this is. But at least Flo doesn't repair weapons before waking people up anymore. That's our rule, you know, you have to earn your guns first. After what happened with Hadrian, I can say that it takes a lot of work to earn them.”

Of course, you can talk with ease like that. You don't know about the Cyberdeck yet… thought Dan, but for obvious reasons, he didn't share his thoughts with Lucy. He just agreed with Lucy. Meanwhile, the two of them were walking, they had almost arrived at Flo's workshop.

——————-

Flo was looking at Fallen One while she was lying on a chair. She wanted to wake her up as soon as possible, but she wasn't the type to act on her own. She knew her responsibilities. Even though she had deactivated Fallen One's weapons, there was no way to deactivate the CyberDeck—except by disassembling it, of course. In light of all this, either the SorCyber they were waiting for would help them or… There would be consequences that she didn't even want to think about. Maybe that was supposed to happen. Flo thought the same as Brad, though she didn't want to admit it. There's no point in living like this, so let's cross the rubicon. Maybe that's why she was so harsh on Brad.

“Hey Brad, sorry for being harsh on you. I guess I'm a little nervous because of all this.” Flo apologized to Brad again.

Feeling Flo's sincerity, Brad accepted the apology and said, "There's nothing to forgive, I shouldn't have made the decision for everyone. But when I saw CyberDeck, I really started to think, whatever happens, happens. This feels like a turning point.” Even he himself was surprised at how mature and cool he sounded while saying these things, but he tried not to reveal this feeling.

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Hearing an unexpectedly mature speech from Brad, Flo opened up, somewhat surprised. “I can guess. I think the same way. I guess that's why I was so pissed off” Flo took advantage of this candid moment and went a little too far by asking something that was taboo in Araf. “Really, why were you thrown here?” After a short pause, she added. "I'll tell you if you tell me."

Of course, Brad, who was infamous for his talkativeness and curiosity, did not miss this opportunity. "Really? I thought it was taboo. But if you insist, of course, I will tell you.” His eyes were shining brightly as if to show that he was going to tell even if she did not insist. And he didn't need much convincing indeed, just Flo's head movement to go on was enough to start the story.

“Don't laugh but I might be one of the most innocent people here.” Brad began. “I was an accountant up in New Nevada, where I lived.” When he saw Flo's doubtful eyes he continued. "Okay, I was laundering money, but I was an accountant."

Flo laughed at the thought of Brad being an accountant and asked, “Isn't blockchain used in New Nevada, how did you launder money? Aren't these coins already untraceable?”

Brad continued excitedly as he saw how interested Flo was in the story. “Yes, that is the case with cryptocurrencies, but I was in the laundering business for cards, not coins. So as you might guess, I was doing business with Cartels, Unions, and the Mafia. But even with the blockchain system, money can still be tracked. Nothing escapes the radar of corporations-states.”

“I can imagine the rest.” said Flo. “There are tons of people thrown in here by the Mafia.” She emphasized the word tons and continued. “I suppose you wanted to reserve some cards for yourself, am I wrong?”

"You're wrong." Brad smiled. “I wish I was that kind of person, but it's a little more complicated. After doing this job for a long time, I started to think that I was earning too little and I thought of selling all the information about the operation to a company. I thought I would never have to work again with the money I would receive. But the company agent I spoke to turned out to be from the mafia… Or the mafia was completely subordinate to the company… I don't know, in conclusion, found myself here."

“Poor Brad,” said Flo. “You're unlike the typical person thrown in here. I'm talking about the criminals who killed dozens of people and who the government wants to forget. At least since you've worked with the mafia, you must be familiar with the types of people here.”

Brad shrugged. “Yes, I can manage… As much as I can… Well, let's get to you. What series of bad decisions brought you here?"

Flo began to speak, thinking she was the architect of her misfortune. “Actually, I was doing what I am doing here. So, I was a TechDoc to criminals… It wasn’t a very prestigious job, but the pay was good… And someone had to heal the bad guys, repair them.”

After a deep sigh, Flo began to look at the floor and continued, “I'm good at my job, you know, I can do my job even with these scraps here... after all, I treated you too... As such, my reputation spread quickly above. Everyone involved in dirty work in the city began to come to my workshop. Even rival mafias… This is where things started to spiral…”

Listening intently, Brad took advantage of the silence and inserted a question. “What city was all this happening in?” As he had told the city he lived in, he expected the same from Flo.

“York City, the place where all dreams collapse… And of course, the paradise of VR musicals.” After Flo said this, she was lost in thought and started to think… The good days when she went to musicals and theaters… As she was wondering if it would be possible again, she heard Brad cough and sat up straight. Brad's cough was meant to communicate come on, go ahead.

“Sorry,” said Flo, as she cleaned her throat… “Let me continue… As I said, it wasn't so good that my reputation was spread so much and the rival mafias liked my craftsmanship. Sometimes fights broke out in my workshop and sometimes I was threatened. It was like, if you do business with these guys, you're done for us… Finally, I've decided not to accept one of the mafias. The "Green Dragon" syndicate. Of course, it was difficult to face them. But on the other hand, I had the Mifflin Syndicate behind me. They had my back, they said there would be no problem. And to be honest, the payoffs were higher as well.”

Flo took a deep breath and continued where she had left off, she obviously didn't enjoy thinking about the past. “Of course, the Green Dragons did not appreciate it. They even saw it as an insult. Even though I was working for mafias, I wasn't fond of any of them. I never even expected things to escalate like that. I had only helped a few of them that were in trouble… I had finally found myself to be the mafia TechDoc. That's why I don't enjoy doing pretty much the same thing I did in York City. Anyway… The Green Dragons, who didn't like this situation, were waiting for an opportunity to get back at me. I had clear signals of this several times. However, the clearest indication came when the boss of the Mifflins was badly injured and brought to me."

Jumping up and down with excitement, Brad became very curious and started to get uneasy. “What was the message? You always pause in the most exciting parts!”

Flo found Brad's excitement funny and smiled as she continued. “The message was this: Tonight, either you or David, the boss of the Mifflins will die! Choose wisely.”

“So what did you decide to do?” Brad exclaimed, unable to control his excitement any longer.

“The thing is, the Green Dragons must have been very offended by the fact that I didn't choose Mifflins over them. Or they may have been planning this all along, I'm not sure. After all, it was the Green Dragons who also injured the Mifflin boss, David. And they knew Mifflins would bring him to me. However, even if I listened to that message and didn't save David, I knew that I would die before I could leave my workshop anyway. No mob lets a TechDoc that couldn't save their boss roam free. Ultimately, I had to make a decision.”

Although Brad understood that each decision could easily end up being the reason Flo was in the Abyss, he was very curious about which one Flo had chosen. “So what did you decide to do?”

Flo opened her mouth to answer when suddenly there was a knock on the door. Lucy and Dan had arrived. As Flo opened the door for them, she turned to Brad and said, "I'll tell you the rest later." as she chuckled.

Although Brad knew that Flo might have landed here either way, he wasn't happy with not hearing the ending of the story.